Manufacture of seamless wire.



Patented Jan. 9, I900.

F. E. BODMAN. MANUFACTURE OF SEAMLES S WIRE.

(Application filed June 14, 1899.)

(No Model.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK E. BODMAN, OF ATTLEBQROUGH, MASSACHUSETTS.

MANUFACTURE OF SEAM LESS WIRE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 640,866, dated January9, 1900. Application filed June 14, 1899. Serial No. 720,487. (Nospecimens.)

To all whom, it nuty concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK E. BODMAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Attleborough, in the county of Bristol and State ofMassachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in SeamlessWire and the Manufacture of the Same; and I hereby declare thefollowingto beafull, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of thisspecification.

My invention relates to seamless plated wire adapted to use in themanufacture of jewelry, particularly to that quality of wire whichdemands elasticity, such as that used in optical goods; and it consistsin the method of treating and arranging the parts preparatory toreducing the same to their final form.

Attempts have been made to produce a seamless gold-plated wire with somedegree of elasticity to utilize in certain arts where the commonseamless wire has proved useless from its pliability. These efforts haveproved unavailing from the fact that by all known methods it is notfeasible to plate gold to the harder metals, such as German silver,without the parts later breaking away, yet to procure the proper degreeof elasticity for certain purposes such hard metals are demanded for thebody or core of the wire.

I effect the desired end by the use of an intermediate plate or cushionof metal softer than the core, to which the gold shell adheresregardless of the thickness of the shell. Almost any metal may be usedfor the cushion, provided it is softer than the core, although I preferbrass and its compositions for this purpose.

Figure Iis a perspective view of the cushion member with solder sheetsapplied thereto. Fig. II shows the same reduced and bent intocylindrical form ready for application of the core. seamless shell ofprecious metal.

Fig. III is a perspective view of the Fig. IV is a similar view of thecompleted ingot after the core has been inserted, and Fig. V is acentral longitudinal sectional view of the same.

Referring to the drawings, in which like letters of reference refer tolike parts throughout, a, Fig. I, is a flat plate of base metal,preferably brass, upon whose upper and lower surfaces are fused layersof hard solder 0 and o. This soldered plate or cushion is then reducedby rolling to the desired thinness, which enables it to be bent intocylindrical form, as shown in Fig. II. I next wrap the cushion aroundthe core of the ingot c and insert the parts intoa cylindrical shell ofplating metal I). The ingot is now ready to heat in a furnace, whichre-fuses the solder sheets 0 and o, uniting the assembled parts andproducing a compound ingot whose outer shell will remain intact andfirmly adhere to the inclosed metal throughout the subsequent process ofreduction into wire. I reduce the ingot into wire by any of the usualmethods of swaging and drawing.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

The herein-described process of making seamless plated gold wire whichconsists in fusing solder to both sides of a base-metal plate, reducingsaidsolder-covered plate to a thinness sufficient to allow the same tobe conveniently Wrapped around a hard-metal core, inserting said coreand plate into a seamless gold shell heating the assembled parts to fuseand reducing the parts into wire by the customary methods.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twowitnesses.

FREDERICK E. BODMAN.

WVitnesses:

HORATIO E. BELLoWs,

Lnwrs T. OArRoN.

